A group of motherboard enthusiasts working for GIGABYTE, sharing their insider knowledge and general ramblings of the motherboard business, the tech industry, latest technologies and trends, and other random odds and ends.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Over 40 GIGABYTE motherboard models allow you to charge your iPad – while you use it!

Last week the web was awash with iPad news. Some news was positive while other news not so positive due to the relatively high iPad power requirements for recharging from PC USB 2.0 ports. Yahoo News has a good report with the most important details.

Here’s a summary: PCs with normal USB 2.0 ports offer only 500mA (0.5A x 5V = 2.5W) and this is not enough to charge the iPad while it is being used (while it is On), but allows for a trickle charge (read slow charge) it when it is shut down (while it is Off) . Some new Apple systems offer 1,100mA (1.1A x 5V = 5.5W) and this is apparently enough to fully charge the iPad while it is being used (On) and when it is shut down (Off) in a couple of hours.

GIGABYTE 3x USB Power

So here’s the good news: GIGABYTE USB 3.0 motherboards feature a very unique technology that we call 3x USB power. This essentially triples the amperage from the USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports in the I/O panel and also from the onboard headers that provide front panel USB ports. That means that we can provide 1,500mA (1.5A x 5V = 7.5W) from our USB 2.0 ports and 2,700mA (2.7A x 5V = 13.5W) from our USB 3.0 ports. Of course the device using the USB port dictates how much power it actually draws – we make the additional power available to the device.

So how can you enable iPad charging from your GIGABYTE motherboard? It’s simple, any GIGABYTE mobo based on an Intel X58, P55, H57, H55 and AMD 800 series chipset can support iPad charging after you’ve downloaded and installed the new On/Off Charge driver.

You can also find a video explanation here and we will follow-up with more info and pictures on the GIGABYTE Motherboard Tech Column facebook fan page. The official GIGABYTE news release will be available from here.